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Tuesday, April 30, 2013

I tried to get chocolate flower to establish in the area for summer blooms. However, despite claims that it would self seed easily even trying to gather the seeds and start them myself, it never spread past where I planted it. If fact, I think the lone chocolate flower plant gave up last summer in the heat. No sign of it yet.

I cleared the mulch in an area and tossed out some of the seeds using this screen to protect the area from neighborhood cats and dust bathing birds. Note the rocks to keep the screen from blowing away.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

We're enjoying a new bird at Garden on Sherlock Street. This little guy/gal likes to scratch around in our back shrub border. I tried using some online bird identification sites, but no luck figuring out what we have.

I don't want to take the chance that water in the hose of the rain barrel will freeze and break the spout or hose. I drained all the water out of the rain barrel giving many plants a drink and tipped the barrel upside down to drain it as much as possible.

Monday, April 8, 2013

This spring, I upgraded the pedestal for the patio birdbath and added a fifth birdbath.

This first birdbath is in the front garden right under our living room window. It is a homemade birdbath from two used farm disc blades and a pipe. (The base looks just like the top.) Someone welded them together. I got it free. One of the radio stations in town has a show where you can call in items to buy, sell, trade or giveaway. Anyway, one day someone had a free birdbath listed. It was "out front, just pick it up." I got lucky. It was still there when I drove by. It just barely fit into my back seat. I painted it black. The top disc blade is rusting a bit though.

This birdbath was a Christmas present from my wonderful husband's late paternal grandmother. I remember her every time I look at it. It came in two pieces with an epoxy. We stuck it together and sat it in the garden. It's shallow which is great for many birds, but dries out easily on hot windy days. It's cute and has a prominent place in the back yard. That's a squirrel image on the front of the pedestal. It seems to be holding up well.

Here's another plastic saucer with a chunk of concrete in it. This is the corner of one of the raised vegetable beds. See my garlic sprouts?

Here is the new birdbath. Another plastic saucer with a chunk of concrete in it. I put it at ground level so the doves who frequent our garden can get to it. The other birds are enjoying it too. I'm sure the neighborhood squirrel will find it. Maybe he already has, but I just haven't witnessed him at it yet.

I also woke up the owls from their hibernation in the garage attic. They're back at work watching over the garden day and night (the eyes are solar lights).

On Friday, I managed to plant onion sets, kohlrabi seeds and radish seeds.

I was not happy with the onion sets. I checked all my usual sources for onion sets in town. Two places had moldy sets. Ewww. The ones I purchased at stop number three have some that are kinda squishy. No way will all of them sprout. Sigh. Next year, I will order onion sets with my other seeds.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

The sunshiny blooms are such a welcome sight in an otherwise blah landscape. They bloom before most plants even consider growing for the season.

Daffodils do well with little assistance. I don't purposely water them or feed them.

Each year, the number of bulbs multiply. Eventually, they get over crowded and stop producing blooms.

I used to think I had to wait until the leaves died back before I could dig up the bulbs to divide them. This hardly ever happened because I would forget about them being over crowded once the leaves were gone and there would be other plants growing in the area by that time which I didn't want to disturb.